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[House  op  Representatives,  No.  326.] 

HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATITES,  January  10,  ls65.— Read 
first  and  second  times,  made  special  order  after  existing  special 
order,  and  ordered  to  be  printed. 

[By  Mr.  Goode,  from  Special  Committee  on  Conscription. 


A.     BILT^ 

To  be  entitled  An  Act  to  regulate  the  business  of  Conscription. 

1  Thz    Coiigrtss  of  the    Confederate   States  of  America  do  enact, 

2  That,  for  the  purpose  of  conducting  tlie  business   of  conscrip- 

3  tion,  there  shall  he  assigned    to  each    State  by  tlio  President  n. 

4  General    officer,  who  nliall  report   to  the   Secretary    of  War 

5  through  an  Assistant  Adjutant  General,  to  be  assigned  in  tke 

6  oQiceof  the  Adjutant  and  Inspector  General,  to  the  duty  of  re- 

7  ceiving  returns   and  reports  and   issuing  all  orders  in  relation 

8  to  conscription. 

1  Sec.  2.     All  applications   for  exemption  and  detail,  except  as 

2  hereinafoer  provided,  shall  be  decided  by  the  General  officers 

3  having  charge   of  the  business    of  conscription  in  the  several 

4  States.     Appeals  may  be  taken  from  their  decisions  to  the  Sec- 

5  retary  of  War,  but   during  the  pendency  of  such  appeals,  the 

6  appellants  shall  be  liable  to  military  service. 

1  Sec.  3.     There  shall  be  assigned  from  the  Invalid  Corps  or  from 

2  officers  certified  by  the  proper  medical  boards  to  be  unfit  for 

3  active  service  in  the  field,  a  sufficient  number  of  enrolling  offi- 

4  cers  >fho  shall  report  to  and  be  under  the  immediate  direction 


5  and  control  of  the  General  officers  conducting  the  business  of 

6  conscription  in  the  several  States. 

1  Sec.  4.     All  conscripts  shall  be  examined  by  the  medical  boards 

2  of  the  army   after  joining  the  commands  in  the  field  to  whicli 
S  they  may  be  respectively  assigned,  and  every  discharge  granted 

4  by  an  army  medical  board,   shall  be  final  and  shall  relieve  the 

5  party  from  all  military  service  in  the  future,  when  the  disability 

6  is  permanent   and  the  cause  of  it  is  pet    forth  in  'he  certificate 

7  of  discharge. 

1  Sec.  5.     If  any  conscript  shall  furnish  to  the  enrolling  officer 

2  of  his  county  a  certificate,  under  oath,  from  a  respectable  physi- 

3  cian  or  from  an  army    surgeon,  that  he   is  unable  to  travel  to 

4  the  command  to  which  he  may  be   assigned   without   serious 

5  predjudice  to  his  health,  a  furlough  shall  be  granted  to  him  un- 

6  til  the  next  meeting   of  the  medical  board,  hereinafter  provi- 

7  ded  for. 

1  Sec.  6.     There  shall  be  assigned  to  each  congressional  district 

2  a  medical  board,  consisting  of  three  army  surgeons  who,  after 

3  due  notice  of  the  time   and  place  of  their  meeting,  shall  visit 

4  each  county  of  the  district  at  least  once  in  two  months,  and  shall 

5  examine,  for  discharge  or  recommendation    f©r  light  duty,  all 

6  conscripts  who  liave   been  furloughed  under  the  provisions  of 

7  the  preceding  section.      Every  discharge  granted   by  the  said 

8  medical  board  shall  be  final   and  shall  relieve  the  party  from 

9  all  military  service  in  the  future,  when  the  disability  is  perma- 
10  nent  and  the  cause  of  it  is  set  forth  in  the  certificate. 

1  Sec.  7.     It  shall  be  the  duty  of  all  officers  and  others  employ- 

?  ed  in  the   military  service  of  the   Confederate  States  and  not 


3 

3  actually  in  the  field  nor  attached  to  any  army  in  the  Held,  inclu- 

4  ding  quartermasters   and  commissaries,   commanders  of  posts, 

5  provost   marshals,  oflicers  of  the  ordnance,    nitre   and  mining 

6  and  medical  bureaus,  and  others,  to  make  certified  monthly  re- 

7  turns  to  the   nearest  conscript  officer,  of  the   nanus,  ages  and 

8  physical  condition  of  all   persons  employed  in   Iheir   service, 

9  which  returns  shall  be    forwarded  to   the  General  officer  con- 
10  trolling  conscription  in  the  Stato. 

1  Sec.  8.     For    the   enforcemcrt  of  the    duties  imposed  by  this 

2  Act  upon  the    General    officers   controlling  conscription  in  the 

3  several  States,  Fuo.h  detachments  of  the    reserve  foiccs  as  they 

4  may  deem  necessary,  shall  be  p'aced  at  thc'r  disposal. 

1  Sec.  9.     In  order  to  insure    the  p  eduction  of  grain  and  pro- 

2  visions  necessary  for  the   use  of  the^  army  and  the  families  of 

3  soldiers,  such  overseers,  fanners  or  planters  as  wrre  not  enroll- 

4  ed  in  the  military  service  on  the   17th  day  of  February,  1864, 

5  and  who  will  be  more  useful   to  tlic  country    in  the  pursuits  of 

6  agriculture  than  in  the  military  service,  shall  be  detailed  upon 

7  terms  to  be  prcsciibed  by   the  Secretary  of  War  under  the  di- 

8  rectious  (  f  the  President.     And  in  order  to  ascertain  what  per- 

9  sons  should  be  detailed  under   t'  ip  Act,  for  the  purposes  afore- 

10  said,  there  shall  be  appointed  by  the  President  in  each  county, 

11  district  or  parish,  an    agricultural    l)oard,  consisting  of  three 

12  farmers  or  planters   over  the   age  of  forty  five  years,  to  whom 
15  shall  be  addressed  every  application  for  the  detail  of  ver- 

14  seer,  farmer  or  planter  in  tUeir  respective  counties,  districts  or 

15  parishes  and  whoso  duty  it  shall  be  to  enquire  and  report  upon 

16  the  merits  of  such   application.      And    if  a  majority  of  said 


17  board  shall  approve  the  same,  they  shall  forward  it  together 

18  with  the  reasons  for  their  approval,  to  the  G-eneral  oflScer  con- 

19  trolling  conscription  in  the  State,  and  if  he  approve  such  appli- 

20  cation,  the  detail  shall  be  allowed.     If  the   General  officer  of 

21  conscription   shall  disapprove  such  application,  the   applicant 

22  shall  have  the  right  of  appeal  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  and  if 

23  the  said  board  shall  disapprove  such  application,  their  decision 

24  shall  be  final  and  no  right  of  appeal  shall  exist. 

1  Sec.  10.     The  bureau  of  conscription,  the  camps  of  instruction 

2  and  the  office  of  commandant  of  conscripts,  are  hereby  abolish- 

3  ed  and  all  rules  and  regulations  of  the  War  Department  incon- 

4  sistent  with  this  Act,  are  hereby  repealed. 


